An Interesting Year
by 2SiriuslyLovely
Summary: James Sirius Potter has known Rachel Brown ever since first year. But now, in seventh year, he starts to see her in a whole new way. Rated T for later content.
1. Chapter 1

_James:_

James Sirius Potter hovered in mid-air watching his younger brother and sister race around the Quidditch pitch. He laughed as Lily easily swooped past Albus, causing him to curse loudly.

"Rematch!" Albus shouted as they flew toward James.

Lily shook her head. "No effing way. I won fair and square."

James shook his head and shrugged when Albus turned to him. "Looked fair to me."

Albus cursed again and sped toward the ground, swiftly dismounting and stalking off toward the school. James sighed and followed. He looked back up at Lily with raised eyebrows. "Well? Are you coming?"

Lily sat with her arms crossed, then she sighed as well, and landed beside him. "Why does he get so mad? Why does he even ask me to race?"

James thought about it for a moment as he began walking toward the castle. "I think," he began, "its because he looks so much like Dad, and people expect him to be as good as Dad was when he was here. Albus is a good Keeper, but he thinks he has to be good at everything. Try to give him a break."

Lily rolled her eyes, looking very much like their mother, but then she nodded. "I'll try."

James looked over and saw a figure under the old beech tree by the lake. The figure was scribbling furiously in a what looked like a diary. He recognized her, a girl from his year named Rachel Brown. It was the end of the first day of school, and since he hadn't seen her all summer, he decided to go over and say hi. "Go on," he told Lily, "I'll catch up with you."

He walked over to where Rachel was sitting, and smiled at her when she looked up at him. When she smiled tentatively back at him, he thought his heart had stopped. She had changed since the last time he'd seen her. Her skin was bronzed and her hair had golden streaks in it from being in the sun. "Hello Rachel," he stammered. "Have a good holiday?"

"Hey James," she drawled in her southern belle accent. "Yes, I had a good summer. How was yours?"

He noticed she didn't give any details of what she had been doing. He nodded. "It was good. I mostly hung around with my family. We played a lot of Quidditch. Mind if I sit with you?"

She hesitated briefly. "Actually, I was just getting ready to go inside." She began gathering her books and stood up, brushing the grass from her jeans.

James wasn't ready to give up just yet. "Can you believe it's our last year here? Next year, we'll be out in the real world." He shook his head to get his shaggy red hair out of his eyes and smiled again.

"Yeah," Rachel answered, "you know what they say; time flies." She started walking toward the castle. She wasn't trying to be rude, she just didn't feel like making small talk with this boy. He was James Potter, after all, of the famous Potter family. She distinctly remembered the last time he had spoken directly to her. It was last term, around Easter, when he asked her to pass him the pitcher of pumpkin juice that was on her end of the table. He'd never been mean to her, but he'd never been overly friendly, either. Until today. She couldn't help but wonder why.

James followed a step behind her. When they got to the doors to the Great Hall, he turned to go inside. They were still serving dinner. He stopped when she headed toward the stairs. "Aren't you going to eat dinner?"

"I ate while you were out playing with your broomstick," she smirked at him. "Goodnight." She turned and started up the stairs, never looking back to see his amused expression.

"Well," James muttered to himself, "I think it's going to be an interesting year." He continued into the Great Hall, taking his favorite seat at the Gryffindor table. Most of the others had already eaten, so the table was mostly empty. Lily, Albus and Hugo sat a little ways down the table. They were laughing at the comic strips in The Daily Prophet. It appeared Lily and Albus had made up, at least for the time being.

James filled his plate with the night's meal, steak and kidney pie. He wolfed it down and replayed the conversation with Rachel. She was shy, he decided. She had always been quiet, only answering the teacher's questions when she was called upon. But she always had the right answer, he realized.

She was obviously smart, like his Aunt Hermione. And she was beautiful. He had thought she was attractive before, not that he had really been interested in girls before now. He had been too busy studying and playing Quidditch. But now, it was hard not to notice how beautiful she was. He wondered vaguely if she had a boyfriend.

When his plate was cleared, he picked up his Firebolt 10 and waved to his family. He jogged up the seven flights of stairs to Gryffindor tower. Leave it to McGonagall to give her students homework on the first day of school. The common room was filled with students still catching up on each others holiday adventures. He waved to the ones who called his name, and escaped to the quiet of his own dormitory.

He changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed, pulling the curtains closed behind him, and started to work on the two foot long essay on animagi. When he was finished, he blew out the candle on his bedside table and lay down. For a long time, he simply pictured Rachel's face in his mind, and then drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

_Rachel:_

Some remote part of Rachel's mind knew she must be dreaming, because there was no way she would get on a broomstick with James Potter. Even if his smile was sort of dazzling. Even if it was a Firebolt 10, the fastest broomstick ever made. The Dream-James turned around and grinned at her, then slowly leaned in. When his lips were only an inch from hers, Rachel heard her name called. She slowly opened her eyes to see her roommate, Sophia, standing over her.

"Are you going to class today? Or are you just going to stay in bed?" she asked testily, pointing at the ancient clock on the wall.

Rachel jumped out of bed. "Shit! Thanks for waking me up."

Sophia nodded, her dark eyebrows knitted together in a frown. "That must have been some dream you were having, Rach. I called your name three times before you heard me. I've never known you to oversleep. Are you feeling ok?"

Rachel thought about it while she was throwing on her robes and running a brush through her hair. How did she feel? Curious, she admitted to herself. And maybe just a little disappointed. His lips had been so close... But it was just a dream. She grabbed her bag and hastily followed Sophia out the door.

When she got to her first class of the day, Transfiguration, she caught herself looking around to see where James was. There were only about ten students in the class this year, since McGonagall required an 'E' from her N.E.W.T. students. James walked in the door in deep conversation with the Professor. Rachel rolled her eyes. _Of course, _she thought, _he's in good with all of the teachers._

As he turned to take his seat, he looked right at her. She felt herself blush because he'd caught her staring at him. When he gave a quick smile, she thought her heart was going to pound right out of her chest. _What is going on?_, she thought.

She managed to focus during class, and was pleased that her voice sounded normal when McGonagall called on her for an answer. She would sometimes glance at James to see what he was doing. He seemed to be taking notes. She watched him so intently that she didn't realize class had ended until James stood up and turned toward her. She blushed again.

"Rachel, may I walk you to your next class?" he asked her in a low voice. He noticed that several curious pairs of eyes were turned on them, but he ignored them.

Rachel tried to sound nonchalant. "Sure." She stood and put her books back in her bag, then followed him out the door.

"What do you have next?"

"Herbology. You? I don't want to make you late."

"Oh, I've got a free period. I usually spend it in the library, but I think I can make an exception this once." He smiled at her. "So, where are you from Rachel? Your accent sounds so...exotic. I've never heard any one else who sounded like you except in Muggle movies."

She frowned, deciding whether to answer. She tried evasion. "You've seen Muggle movies?"

"Well, I've seen a few. My Aunt Hermione is a Muggle-born, you know. And my Dad was raised by Muggles until he came here to school," he answered.

She couldn't be sure, but she thought his eyes darkened with anger for a moment when he spoke of his father. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. "I was born in Tennessee. My Mom is a Muggle, and my Dad is a wizard. They met while Dad was in America on assignment from the Ministry. They got married and had me. We lived in Tennessee until the summer of my eleventh birthday, then we moved to London. My Dad went to Hogwarts, and he decided I should, too. I spent this summer back home with my Mom's family."

He walked in silence for a moment, seeming to digest this. "Back home, you said. You don't feel at home here?" he asked.

"Well, my Dad's parents are dead, and he was an only child. So before I started school here, I didn't know anyone. I'm an only child, too, so I had no one to play with. In Tennessee, I've got lots of cousins, and we grew up together. They are the brothers and sisters I never had. And they don't know what I am. I couldn't share that with them. They think I'm going to a 'fancy boarding school'. They don't like my Dad very much; they said he thought he was too good for them." She blew out a breath when she was finished. "Sorry, I didn't mean to rant. That's the most I've talked about myself in...well, ever."

"Wow. I didn't know all that about you. I didn't even know you were a half-blood." James looked at her curiously.

Rachel suddenly felt defensive. "Does it matter to you, Mr. Famous Potter Family, that I'm a half-blood? Does that mean I'm less of a witch?" she demanded.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," James shook his head frantically. "I was just surprised that I'd never heard that before. You know how the kids talk at this school. I couldn't care less about 'status'. I was raised better than that," he finished, with a hint of pride in his voice.

Rachel took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. She got her temper from her mother. If she didn't keep it in check, it would ruin the rest of her day. She stopped outside Greenhouse 5 and turned to look up at James. He really had such beautiful, chocolate brown eyes. She shook her head to regain her focus. "Thank you for escorting me to class. Enjoy your free period." She started to turn away, but James grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. His lips crushed down on hers, and when he pulled away, just as quickly, he left her breathless. Then he abruptly turned away and started back toward the castle without another word.


End file.
